Class Meets
As we progress our Home Learning, the next stage is to introduce the opportunity for the children to meet virtually and safely, supported by their class teacher. This will be primarily to enable interaction between the children in a supported way and to allow them to see one another to converse and support their own well-being. In time, it will also allow the teacher to discuss the work for the week, answer any questions and build the connection between home and school, ready for our eventual return.
This will be done currently by using Microsoft Teams and the teachers will be sending links to parents and carers via the primary email address registered with Class Dojo or Tapestry.
What we need you to do
You will need PC/laptop or a mobile device such as a tablet or smart telephone,. This device will need a camera and a microphone. We advise using PCs, tablets or laptops so the screen size is suitable for the meeting in comparison to a mobile phone, where possible.
The day before the Class Meet, the teacher will email the parent/carer a link to a 20-minute online meeting. The parent/carer will need access to the email the link that has been sent to via the device being used. Note this may go into your Junk folder and it will be from the year group email (such as [email protected]).
When you tap on the link, it may prompt you to download the App. (Safari on iPhones and iPads doesn’t support the link so you will need to download the App.) You’ll then be prompted to Log In or Join As Guest. For security purposes, we advise all people to JOIN AS GUEST. If you already use Teams and are signed in, we suggest you sign out and JOIN AS GUEST. As a guest, it ensures your email address remains private to other users.
Problem Solving – How we will help
We know that it may be difficult for some of our families to join to begin with. Don’t panic! The class teacher will contact you directly during the week if you were unable to log in to the call to talk through any issues that might help you join the following week. We also know that on occasions, your devices may be in use at home at the time of the call, such as for work purposes. We will be ensuring that the meetings are scheduled at the same time every week which will hopefully allow households to plan for this short period.
To ensure the calls run as smoothly as possible, attached are a set of protocols we ask you to read prior to the calls. This ensures that distractions and things that can interrupt the calls are kept to a minimum. These include ensuring the children are somewhere quiet, appropriately dressed, well lit, ideally with a wall behind them and that other people in the household know that the child is on a call and the camera and microphone is on so they can be heard and seen.
What we will do
On the call, the teacher will lead some structured activities such as asking the children about their work or a challenge that has been set as part of the Home Learning. You’ll find the activity in the Monday box of the Mindfulness/PSE section of the Home Learning timetable uploaded to the website every Monday morning. It’ll also be communicated via Class Dojo.
Any Questions
Any questions prior to the call should be sent to the teacher via Class Dojo. The classes will be split into groups, and Key Worker children we have in school will be included too.
We look forward to seeing the children and hearing from them and no doubt this will be a technological learning curve for many of you as well as us!
